different between plump vs plummet

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pl?mp/
• Rhymes: -?mp

Etymology 1

From Middle English plump, plompe, a borrowing from Middle Dutch plomp or Middle Low German plump.

Adjective

plump (comparative plumper or more plump, superlative plumpest or most plump)

1. Having a full and rounded shape; chubby, somewhat overweight.
   • 1651, Thomas Carew, To my friend G. N. from Wrest

     The god of wine did his plump clusters bring.

   • 2015, Anton Chekhov, The Life and Genius of Anton Chekhov: Letters, Diary, Reminiscences and Biography: Assorted Collection of Autobiographical Writings of the Renowned Russian Author and Playwright of Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, The Three Sisters and The Seagull, e-artnow (?ISBN)

     My ideal is to be idle and to love a plump girl.
2. Fat.
3. Sudden and without reservation; blunt; direct; downright.
   • 1898, George Saintsbury, A Short History of English Literature

     After the plump statement that the author was at Erceldoune and spake with Thomas.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:obese

Antonyms

• See also Thesaurus:scrawny

Translations

Verb

plump (third-person singular simple present plumps, present participle plumping, simple past and past participle plumped)

1. (intransitive) To grow plump; to swell out.

   Her cheeks have plumped.

2. (transitive) To make plump; to fill (out) or support; often with up.

   to plump oysters or scallops by placing them in fresh or brackish water

   • to plump up the hollowness of their history with improbable miracles

3. (transitive) To cast or let drop all at once, suddenly and heavily.

   to plump a stone into water

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

     Although Miss Pross, through her long association with a French family, might have known as much of their language as of her own, if she had had a mind, she had no mind in that direction […] So her manner of marketing was to plump a noun-substantive at the head of a shopkeeper without any introduction in the nature of an article […]

4. (intransitive) To give a plumper (kind of vote).
5. (transitive) To give (a vote), as a plumper.
6. (transitive with for) To favor or decide in favor of something.

Etymology 2

From Middle English plumpen, akin to Middle Dutch plompen, Middle Low German plumpen, German plumpfen.

Verb

plump (third-person singular simple present plumps, present participle plumping, simple past and past participle plumped)

1. (intransitive) To drop or fall suddenly or heavily, all at once.
   • September 24, 1712, The Spectator No. 492, letter from a prude

     Dulcissa plumps into a chair.

Translations

Adverb

plump

1. Directly; suddenly; perpendicularly.

Noun

plump (plural plumps)

1. The sound of a sudden heavy fall.

Etymology 3

From Middle English plump.

Noun

plump (plural plumps)

1. (obsolete) A knot or cluster; a group; a crowd.

References

• plump in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pl?mp/

Adjective

plump (comparative plumper, superlative am plumpesten)

1. crude, clumsy
2. squat, stumpy

Declension

Further reading

• “plump” in Duden online

Irish

Etymology

Onomatopoeic

Pronunciation

• (Cois Fharraige) IPA^(key): /p?l???m?p?/

Noun

plump f (genitive singular plumpa, nominative plural plumpanna)

1. Cois Fharraige form of plimp

Declension

Derived terms

• plumpaíl

Mutation

Further reading

• "plump" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?p?l?mp]

Adjective

plump

1. big and awkward
2. base, vulgar

English

Etymology

From Middle English plommet (“ball of lead", "plumb of a bob-line”), recorded since 1382, from Old French plommet or plomet, the diminutive of plom, plum (“lead", "sounding lead”), from Latin plumbum (“lead”). The verb is first recorded in 1626, originally meaning “to fathom, take soundings", from the noun.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pl?m.?t/
• Rhymes: -?m?t

Noun

plummet (plural plummets)

1. (archaic) A piece of lead attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water, a plumb bob or a plumb line
   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 3 scene 3

     I'll sink him deeper than e'er plummet sounded.

2. (archaic) Hence, any weight
   • 1945, Ernie Pyle, Here is Your War: Story of G.I. Joe, The World Publishing Company (1945), page #93:

     His parachute was shot half away, and if he'd jumped he would have fallen like a plummet.

3. (archaic) A piece of lead formerly used by school children to rule paper for writing (that is, to mark with rules, with lines)
4. A plummet line, a line with a plummet; a sounding line
5. Violent or dramatic fall
6. (figuratively) A decline; a fall; a drop

Translations

Verb

plummet (third-person singular simple present plummets, present participle plummeting or plummetting, simple past and past participle plummeted or plummetted)

1. (intransitive) To drop swiftly, in a direct manner; to fall quickly.

   After its ascent, the arrow plummeted to earth.

Synonyms

• (to drop swiftly): dive, drop, fall

Antonyms

• (to drop swiftly): ascend, rise, rocket, soar, skyrocket

Translations

See also

• plumb line
• plumb

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “plummet”, in Online Etymology Dictionary